


The Strategic Scientific Reserve's Secret

by CloakedSparrow



Series: Marvel Ficlets & Headcanons Collection [14]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Bucky Barnes's Notebooks, Canon Compliant, Captain America: The First Avenger, Friendship/Love, Gen, Military Training, No Dialogue, No Romance, No Sex, Secrets, Short One Shot, Strategic Scientific Reserve, World War II
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-30
Updated: 2017-05-30
Packaged: 2018-11-06 19:20:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 542
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11042622
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CloakedSparrow/pseuds/CloakedSparrow
Summary: Project Rebirth was designed to test soldiers, not to train them. The SSR can't very well point out that Captain America doesn't even know how to hold a gun correctly when they're putting him in charge of a special unit. Steve assures Phillips that he can pull it off.By that, he meant what he always did when he said he could pull something off, ever since he was a child. He meant that he and Bucky would figure it out together and make it work. They were good at that.





	The Strategic Scientific Reserve's Secret

It is a ~~virtually unknown~~ little known fact that Steve Rogers actually received very little proper training before being out in charge of a special unit. This is because Project Rebirth was designed to test soldiers, not to train them. 

The Howling Commandos assumed the man who had boldly performed such a daring rescue, and who had subsequently been put in charge of their unit, knew what he was doing. Colonel Phillips and the other heads of the SSR certainty weren't going to tell anyone that the guy they were all hanging their futures on couldn't even hold a gun properly. They assumed that he could at least climb a rope, crawl under a fence, and run a decent mile after Erskine's serum anyway. Steve had no intentions of pointing out that he was unqualified for the position he'd been put in (the one he'd wanted since the war began). Instead, he assured Phillips that he'd pull it off. 

By that, he meant what he always did when he said he could pull something off, ever since he was a child. He meant that he and Bucky would figure it out together and make it work. They were good at that. 

Bucky had passed basic, advanced, and some speciality training with flying colors. Unlike Steve, he was good at listening to others and following orders from his superiors (within reason, he wasn't going to march his men into a potential suicide mission without a damn good cause). He had been in charge of what remained of his unit at the time they were captured by Hydra and many credited him for them surviving as long as they did. 

So Bucky gave Steve a crash course on military protocol. He taught him how to handle subordinates and superiors alike. He took him out into the woods to teach him how to shoot, handle, clean, load, and assemble his gun. He showed him how to properly set his dress uniform. How to send in a report. How to dismantle simple explosives. How to march and salute. 

There were some situations where they discovered they had missed something. It wasn't their fault really, they simply didn't have the time to cover every possible eventuality and so they'd focused on the things they knew Steve would definitely need to know. This led to a few instances where Bucky flat out fed the right words or responses to Steve like Cyrano whispering lines to Christian. 

Just as Steve had promised, they pulled it off. 

Only Colonel Phillips and Agent Carter were the wiser, having been aware of Steve's skills -or lack thereof- before he became Captain America. But they saw that whatever Steve and Bucky were doing worked so they just let it continue. They had a war to win and not enough time to get Steve up to speed the proper way. As they both grew old after the war, they were often amused at what some of the history books claimed about Captain America. They still never told anyone. 

The only thing approaching a true record of the time is a collection of notebooks, tucked in a backpack in a secured evidence locker. Agent Everett Ross has no intention of telling anyone the truth either.


End file.
